Covered rubber cord



7 Nov. 22, 1949 a. o. SCHNELLERIIE 2,488,941

COVERED RUBBER CORD Filed April 4, 1947 Patented Nov. 22, 1949 covrrmn RUBBER com) George 0. Schneller, III, Ansonia, Conn., assignor to The Ansonia & 0 Company, Ansonia, Conn., a corporation of Connecticut Application April 4, 1947, Serial No. 739,467

2 Claims.

This invention relates to a so-called covered rubber cord," that is, a rubber thread covered with one or more windings of textile threads, including cotton, rayon, nylon, or similar threads used in the manufacture of textiles.

At the present time, there is a wide use of covered rubber cords in elastic fabrics. These cords usually consist of a core of rubber or elastic thread covered by windings or ends of textile material, the covering threads being wound on the elastic thread core when the latter is stretched to some extent in order that the resulting cord will have the proper elasticity desired in the finished elastic fabric.

In order to enhance the appearance of the fabric, it has been the practice to provide the elastic thread with a covering of rayon, for example, in order that the resulting cord will havea luster and impart this luster to the fabric into which the cord is woven. However, it has been found that, when the outer covering of the cord is of rayon, it will be inclined to slip in the fabric when the latter is stretched, as rayon threads do not offer suflicient friction when woven into the fabric to enable the cross threads, usually wefts, to cling thereto. The result is that, when the fabric is stretched, the weft threads will sometimes slip out of place upon the covered rubber cords when the latter are used as warps and leave openings in the fabric.

In order to providev the covered rubber cord with the required holding, or non-slipping properties, and, at the same time, with a lustrous appearance, it has been the custom to first place a winding of rayon upon the rubber thread and then a second winding of cotton thread over the rayon thread. These two coverings are usually placed on the rubber thread with the windings in opposite directions, so that the resulting product will lie straight and not tend to curl. As the outer or cotton winding does not completely cover the lower winding of rayon material, the resulting thread will still have some luster, and, at the same time, the cotton thread wound over the rayon thread will provide holding qualities in the finished web or fabric. However, as a part, and a considerable part of the rayon thread, is covered by the cotton thread, some of the luster will be lost, and the resulting web will not have the attractive appearance as it would if the rayon winding could be placed upon the outside.

It is contemplated by the present invention to provide a covered rubber cord which will have the required holding or anti-slipping properties when placed in a web, and will, at the same time,

have an increased luster as compared with cords now employed, so that, when the cord is woven into an elastic web, the appearance of the latter will be enhanced, while, at the same time, the web will be strong and resist permanent distortion. Briefly, the present cord will possess greater luster than that in previous cords, and will have equivalent gripping qualities.

One object of the present invention is to provide an improved covered rubber cord for use in the manufacture of elastic fabrics.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved covered rubber cord which will have an enhanced appearance, and, at the same time, will have improved strength and other qualities when woven into an elastic web.

A still further object of the invention is to provide'a covered rubber cord having an outer covering consisting of threads of different characteristics, one o f.these threads serving to enhance the appearance of the cord and the web into which the cord is woven, and the other of the threads serving to give the cord good gripping characteristics in a woven fabric.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a covered rubber cord having a first or inner covering of thread having a luster and an outer covering comprising a plurality of threads laid upon the inner covering in parallel relation, certain of the threads of the outer covering having a luster to enhance the appearance of the covered cord, and another of the outer threads serving to give the covered cord good gripping or holding qualities in a woven fabric.

To these and other ends the invention consists in the novel features and combinations of parts to be hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings:

Fig. 1 is an elevational view of a covered rubber cord embodying my invention;

Fig. 2 is a view showing some of the mechanism for placing the first or innerwinding upon the rubber thread;

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2 showing the method of placing the outer covering upon the cord, this outer covering comprising a plurality of threads laid side by side over the inner cover;

and

Fig. 4 is a sectional view on line 4-4 of Fig. 3.

To illustrate a preferred embodiment of my invention, I have shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings a rubber thread l0, which serves as the core or inner member of the completed covered cord. While the number of coverings placed upon this core and the number of threads or ends" emton.

ployed in each cover may be varied, I have illustrated a cord, in which two coverings or inner and outer covers are placed upon the rubber thread.

In this instance, the inner cover comprises a rayon thread ll wound spirally about the rubber core by any suitable means, such as the mechanism illustrated in Fig. 2. After this first winding or inner cover of rayon thread is placed upon the rubber core, a second winding or outer cover will then be placed over the inner cover.

In the illustration shown, this second winding comprises two threads or ends, one of which will preferably be of rayon, as illustrated at l2, and a second comprising the cotton thread l3. These two threads are, as shown, laid upon the inner cover in parallel or side-by-side relation, so that they will not be twisted and will each lie upon the surface of the finished cord at substantially the same distance from the core.

It will be understood that, while the coils of the winding are shown as relatively close together .in the drawings, this condition may not always exist, but that the rayon thread or cover II will show through the windings of the outer cover, thus increasing the luster of the finished product by providing a greater percentage of rayon thread in the cover than the percentage of cot- This increased amount of rayon thread will add to the luster of the finished product, and, as the threads in the outer cover are laid side by side, the rayon thread in the outer cover will not be covered by the cotton thread but will be completely exposed, the result being the production of a cord of greater luster than would be the case if a winding of cotton or non-lustrous thread were placed over the rayon in the outer cover.

At the same time, the cotton thread in the outer cover is also exposed at the surface of the finished cord, so that, when the cord is woven into a fabric, it will be gripped tightly by the cross or weft threads, thus preventing any slippage between the weft threads and warp cords in the fabric. This description assumes that the rubber cords will be used as warps in the fabric, but the same would be true if they are used as wells or both, as in the case of a two-way stretch fabric. Thus, the surface or outer cover of the cord consists of two parallel threads laid side by side in untwisted relation, one of the threads giving the finished cord certain characteristics, and the other of the threads giving the cord other characteristics, both of which are desirable in the weaving of the cord into a fabric.

The rubber thread or core 10 may be covered by any suitable mechanism, such as that shown, for example, in Figs. 2 and 3. As shown in Fig. 2, the rubber thread I is led through the passage in a hollow spindle l5 upon which is mounted the spool or bobbin l6 containing the rayon thread N. This thread, as it comes from the bobbin or spool I6, is led through the eye ll of a flier It to be wrapped spirally around the core I.

The resulting product 19, consisting of the rubber core ID with the single winding ll thereon, is then passed through the passage of a second spindle 20 having the bobbin or spool 2| thereon.

Upon the spool M is wound the rayon thread I! and the cotton thread I3. These threads are carefully wound upon the spool 2| in parallel or untwisted relation so that they may be drawn from the spool and applied to the cord in the same relation. For this purpose, there is employed a double-armed flier 22 having eyes 23 and 24, one of the threads I! or l3 being passed through each of these eyes and applied to the cord as shown at 25.

It will be understood that in practice the spindle 20 may be mounted above the spindle I5, so that the rubber thread may be passed through the two spindles consecutively in one operation to receive the inner and outer coverings. It will also be apparent that with the threads '2 and i3 being wound on the bobbin or spool 2| in precisely parallel untwisted relation and with the use of the double-armed flier,

these threads will be laid upon the cord in the same relation, so that they will lie side by side upon the cord and neither be superposed upon or cross the other. Thus, the outer covering of the cord will consist of the two parallel ends having different characteristics as described, both of which lie at substantially the same distance from the axis of the cord.

While I have shown and described a preferred embodiment of my invention, it will be understood that it is not to be limited to all of the details shown, but is capable of modification and variation within the spirit of the invention and within the scope of the claims.

What I claim is:

1. A covered rubber cord for use in a woven fabric comprising a core of rubber thread and an outer cover comprising two threads laid in the cord in parallel untwisted relation, one of said last-named threads having a smooth, relatively slippery surface and a lustrous appearance, and the other having frictional gripping qualities when the cord is woven in a web.

2. A covered rubber cord of relatively small diameter comprising a core of rubber thread and an outer cover comprising at least two threads laid helically in the cord in untwisted parallel relation, one of said last-named threads being of rayon having a lustrous appearance, and another of said threads being cotton and having frictional gripping properties.

GEORGE O. SCHNELLER, III

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the 

